Learn Chinese traditional folk art, shoot Chinese terraced scenery, rewrite words and cover Chinese songs... Many foreign friends interviewed by this newspaper shared what they saw and heard during their work and life in China, and talked freely about their feelings and experiences about the development and changes in various fields in China.

"Learning crosstalk has deepened our understanding of Chinese"

"Beat bamboo boards, hurry, turn around and I come to Tongrentang..." In the hot summer, Mamisua Rakutu Ariuni, an African youth, raised his arms under the walls of the Drum Tower in Tianjin, holding the allegro. The red silk ribbon on the Allegro flies in the air with his eloquent Tianjin Allegro "Tongrentang".

"Hey, this African little brother's allegro is really smooth!" Passed by Tianjin citizens stopped to watch and thumbed up. This is where the reporter's interview began, along with Maki Sua's crosstalk partner Ike Kittili.

"I am Mamisua, from Madagascar." "I'm Frank Aikai from Kenya." This pair of crosstalk partners came to China to study in 2016, and later studied Chinese international education at Tianjin Normal University. Two African young people of the same age met in China because of their Chinese language, and they also got acquainted with Chinese traditional art in Tianjin, the hometown of Quyi.

Mamisua is lively and talkative, Aikai is calm and quiet, and the two complement each other. When a pair of partners talk about crosstalk on the stage, if the audience listens with their eyes closed, where can they tell that they are foreigners? The standard Chinese pronunciation, neat package shaking, and witty Tianjin dialect from time to time made the audience laugh and praise.

In 2019, two African young people came across crosstalk by chance. They found it very interesting and began to learn from their teachers. "Language is a difficult problem. At the beginning of practice, we often encounter unfamiliar Chinese expressions and idioms. Learning crosstalk has deepened our understanding of Chinese." Mamisua recalled that at first, the two people didn't cooperate with each other, so they had to practice their words, expressions and actions slowly.

Now, they only need to look at each other to know what they think. The two have performed many crosstalk works, among which, "The Five Features Compete for Merit" won the "Inherited Talent" award of the second "Maji Cup" National College Students Crosstalk Exhibition, and "Unusual" won the third prize in the new works competition of the 12th Beijing Youth Crosstalk Festival.

Crosstalk creation originates from life. Having lived in Tianjin for 6 years, they witnessed the urban development of Tianjin and gradually figured out the "Tianjin flavor". The two young Africans, who were originally optimistic and sunny by nature, had a warm feeling of meeting old friends in other countries.

This year, they began to learn Tianjin Allegro again. "One meter for you, one meter for me, everyone keep a small distance..." During the prevention and control of COVID-19, the volunteers' protective clothing was tightly wrapped, which did not hinder the strong allegro. "I saw a 'big white' telling everyone to do nucleic acid in the way of allegro. Inspired, I wanted to combine some hot spots and record what we saw and heard here in the way we are good at." Mamisua said.

In addition to in-depth and systematic study of crosstalk art, Mamisua and Aikai have also become ambassadors of cultural communication between China and Africa. "As a unique language art, Chinese crosstalk is a popular talk show in my hometown Madagascar. I hope I can add some characteristics of my own culture when performing crosstalk in the future." Mamisua said. In Aikai's opinion, language and culture are inseparable. "If you only know language but not culture, you will make jokes and even cause misunderstanding."

Aikai said that with the closer cooperation between Kenya and China, more and more Chinese people come to Kenya to work and travel. For this reason, Mombasa Nairobi Railway Operation Company has set up a professional Chinese course of "Chinese+Railway" for employees to better serve Chinese tourists. Aikai's master's thesis is related to this.

In this paper entitled "Investigation on Chinese Language Teaching for Special Purposes of Mombasa Nairobi Railway Operation Company in Kenya", Aikai interviewed employees of Mombasa Nairobi Railway Operation Company and local Chinese teachers in Kenya to investigate the Chinese language teaching for special purposes of the company

In the research for the paper writing, Aikai noticed that the Chinese training of "Chinese+Railway" not only teaches Chinese, but also popularizes the different cultural etiquette of the two countries to the students. Through the questionnaire survey, he also found that students generally hope to visit the Chinese railway transport department during their study, "This kind of extracurricular learning is conducive to improving their professional knowledge and Chinese level." He concluded.

Like many foreigners who have lived in China for many years, Mamisua and Aikai have become more and more familiar with China over time. "Before we came here, when we talked about China, we thought of Chinese Kung Fu and the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games." Aikai said. Later, they found that China is far more than that - the blue sky and white clouds have fresh air, green and low-carbon travel can be seen everywhere, and logistics services are convenient and efficient... The longer they live in China, the more three-dimensional and vivid the image of China in their hearts.

"The Chinese people are really amazing!" This is what Mamesua often says. "After the outbreak of the epidemic, medical workers from all over China quickly gathered for help. I was shocked to see the news report." Mamisua said that during his years in China, he always felt the care and warmth of the Chinese people During the period of epidemic prevention and control, Mamisua volunteered to become a "courier brother" on campus, picking up and delivering couriers for international students on campus every day until the resumption of classes.

At the end of the interview, it was already late at night, and Tianjin was particularly beautiful in the night. The two young Africans are going back to school, and we are reluctant to part.

During the conversation, the taxi came and looked at two young Africans. The driver asked the reporter, "Where are they going?"

"Go to Tianjin Normal University."

"How can I get there?"

"Let them tell you by themselves!" We smiled and told the driver, "Shifu, their Chinese is very good, and they can talk to you about cross talk on the way!"

"Record the beauty of China with camera"

Thierry Bornier, a Frenchman, has lived in Kunming, Yunnan for more than 10 years. He is not only a photographer, but also a chocolate confectioner. Tieri was born in Provence, France. After working in the United States for many years, he was assigned to Shanghai by the company as the financial director. In 2004, a trip to Yunnan made Tieri encounter the beautiful scenery of Yuanyang terraced fields and awakened his inner artistic pursuit. "At the moment when I saw the terraces, I felt the beauty of nature and decided to become a photographer." Tieri recalled.

Thereafter, Tieri began to learn photography. In order to present excellent light, he can wait for several hours in the cold night just to capture the moment of dawn, or for several years to shoot a certain season. He showed his photographic works to reporters: "These are all Yuanyang terraces I have photographed. At different times, the terraces show different colors and are very attractive." Through this group of photos, Tieri introduced Yuanyang Terraces to the world, attracting a large number of foreign tourists and photographers. His works have also won many world landscape photography awards and been published in many well-known magazines.

After receiving the transfer order to work in New York, Tieri found that the figures and financial statements could no longer meet his pursuit of life. He chose to stay in Kunming and become a full-time photographer. When people marvel at the span of his life, he always smiles and says, "You can add a little poetry to life." Now, every morning, he will go to the food market to buy food, and then like a native Kunming, he can skillfully cook local delicacies such as dried mushrooms.

During his life in Yunnan, Tieri went to many different mountain villages to take photos, and he felt many changes in the mountains: asphalt roads were built to remote villages in the mountains, and villagers learned to live on the Internet and bring goods through e-commerce. When they met foreigners, they were no longer shy and strange. This allowed his creation to expand into a new field - portrait photography. Those farmers who worked hard in the fields became the main characters in his camera. "Light, mood and story are the three most important factors to make a good picture." Tieri said. Through his lens, the picture of hardworking and simple Chinese people struggling for an ideal life was fixed, showing a poetic depth.

During the prevention and control of the COVID-19, Tieri slowed down the pace of travel photography, but his enthusiasm for life and career was not affected at all. Baking is Tieri's hobby in his spare time, and he especially likes making chocolate. In his view, photography is a visual art, and exquisite chocolate is a dual art of vision and taste. "Come and taste our chocolate." Tieri took out two rows of exquisite hemispherical chocolates from the kitchen of his chocolate factory in Kunming Jinding 1919 Cultural Creative Park. Each chocolate was painted with gorgeous tiger patterns. "This is the Year of the Tiger. I hope to express my understanding of Chinese traditional culture by making chocolate with tiger elements."

Tieri found that, with the improvement of the living standard of the Chinese people, consumers pay more attention to quality, and handmade chocolate is loved by more and more people. At the same time, because the local government has vigorously promoted the cultivation of tropical crops in recent years, cocoa trees have grown well in Yunnan, Hainan and other places, allowing Tieri's chocolate factory to directly purchase high-quality raw materials from the local. Tieri said: "We not only integrate the flavors of Pu'er tea, oolong tea, green tea and other teas into chocolate, giving handmade chocolate a unique Chinese flavor, but also hope to add artistic creation to the production of chocolate. These innovations are all aimed at making high-quality chocolate with Chinese elements."

Recently, Tieri was busy setting up a handmade chocolate shelf in a hotel. He said happily, "I have found my passion, hobbies and career here. I believe there is nothing happier than living in China. I really enjoy every day in Kunming." Tieri said that in the future, he will continue to pick up cameras to "record the beauty of China with lenses".

"Spread Chinese Culture with Music"

While pressing the piano keys, you can modify the music score, and then open the computer to make music with the mixing software, and carefully consider how to add different timbres to compose music; Go for a walk when you are tired, and think about what English words can more accurately express the artistic conception of Chinese songs... This is the daily life of British young man Sean Gibson who is engaged in music creation in China. Sean graduated from Liverpool University in England. "An Englishman who likes Chinese music" is his favorite self introduction.

Sean has a long relationship with Chinese music. "I once walked by an oriental culture exhibition in the streets of Liverpool and heard the music played with traditional Chinese instruments. I was immediately attracted and felt very pleasant." That was the first time he heard Chinese music, and Sean did not expect to have an indissoluble bond with it later. "I thought these musical instruments were only played in ancient China, and after coming to China, I found that they are still in use today." In Sean's opinion, Chinese music is very distinctive. Some traditional instruments can imitate the sound of nature, such as the sound of the flute, which can vividly reproduce the sound of birds. "The rich and diverse traditional Chinese musical instruments can always bring me different creative inspiration."

Open Sean's social media homepage to see links to dozens of songs. Among them, there are not only English covers of Chinese songs that he rewrote, but also his original "Chinese style" songs. Speaking of filling words for Chinese music in English, Sean believes that Chinese music can always show poetic and abstract pictures. The key of filling words is how to present the sense of pictures in music. Only by fully understanding the Chinese cultural connotation behind the lyrics can we tell the Chinese stories in English.

Sean took Blue and White Porcelain as an example. "This song is gentle, delicate and melodious, which makes people think of the poetic picture of green mountains and drizzle." When filling in the lyrics, Sean and his Chinese friends pondered over the details to understand the specific meaning and application scenarios of Chinese lyrics. "I try to think like the original author and feel his mood of creation. After that, I will translate the lyrics according to the picture in my mind." As Sean's understanding of the Chinese culture behind the lyrics deepens, he also has some creative pressure. "This feeling is particularly strong when adapting the national style music. The words, poems and lyrics in the national style music should be polished carefully, and only after multiple processes can they present better works." Sean said.

China is a hot spot for Sean to realize his music dream. In order to create music better, Sean traveled around China to deeply experience the local culture, so as to get more inspiration and inspiration. At present, Sean has completed several works using Chinese ethnic minority instruments. "The 56 ethnic groups in China have their own characteristics, and the music of different ethnic groups is like the paint in the palette, which is unique and can be integrated with each other. This music expression mode that is different from that of the West gives me the opportunity to try a new music style." He also shared with reporters his feelings during the trip, "In Pu'er, Yunnan, I came across Hulusi. Later, I learned this instrument by myself and added it to the production of music albums. I hope that my adaptation and performance can make more listeners in Britain and other western countries understand Chinese music and culture."

"Which Chinese musical instrument is the timbre used for mixing in Blue and White?" "I can see that the lyrics are really diligent!" With Sean's efforts, his works have attracted more and more attention. In his overseas social media account, you can see many messages from fans. During the interview, Sean was checking the messages from Chinese netizens in the piano room. "Some Chinese fans told me that their English teachers used the music I filled in to teach them to memorize words in class, which made me feel very successful."

Recently, Sean signed up for a Chinese refresher course, intending to further improve his Chinese level. "I am looking forward to creating more excellent music works, continuing to spread Chinese culture with music, and building a bridge between China and the world with music."